Author
Topic: Fun things to do with Message windows (Read 571 times)

This is a continuation of the discussion in https://bugtracker.arcengames.com/view.php?id=19276. I was brainstorming some fun things I could do with a Message window (aka the window in AIWC where you got Warnings messages and other messages). Note I'm not comitted to the exact interface from AIWC, but I do think having the ability to give both short form ("The Zenith Trader is on Murdoch with its wares") and long form game state messages ("Some plot/explanation of how the Nanocaust works") is valuable to in game immersion and giving the game some personality/plot.

A couple other fun things you can do with the Warnings Messages area. Note that it would be really nice if the messages were clickable (so clicking on "Your Ark is Under Attack" could jump you right to that planet, for example)

The Devourer should be more or less chatty with warnings depending on the Intensity. Low intensity it tells you whenever it's going to attack one of your planets, for example.

The AI could give messages whenever it hit various in-game decision points ("My Threat fleet is going to Attack Murdoch," "Unlocking Eyebots for my use"). This could be turned into a "Novice mode" where the AI itself could teach you how it worked by giving you messages whenever it did something (with the verbosity/number of warnings as a tunable). Especially since AIWC was notorious for being brutally difficult, this might allow for more casual players to have success with AIW2.

A "Chatty AI" gameplay mode wherein it would be like Novice mode but it would insult you at the same time in an amusing fashion (imagine if the Devourer decided it wanted to provide amusing/snarky commentary on the war).

The Nanocaust could tell you when it was going to attack. And I'd really value the ability to have a long-form Journal where a player could get information about how the Nanocaust works, and to give flavour/plot elements.

The Dyson Sphere could tell you when it changed allegiance to hate you (for example, imagine a case where you'd left the Dyson Sphere Planet unowned and the AI recaptured it. Suddenly you have a crisis since the Dyson Sphere ships are now about to start attacking you). Also, a Journal message could appear when you freed the Dyson Sphere saying "Thank you for liberating us. Now leave us alone or we'll attack you" to give it some flavour and personality.

The Zenith Trader could also let you know when it's on one of your planets to trade with.

The AI could give messages whenever it hit various in-game decision points ("My Threat fleet is going to Attack Murdoch," "Unlocking Eyebots for my use"). This could be turned into a "Novice mode" where the AI itself could teach you how it worked by giving you messages whenever it did something (with the verbosity/number of warnings as a tunable). Especially since AIWC was notorious for being brutally difficult, this might allow for more casual players to have success with AIW2.

I could see this being a huge help for newer players in understanding the consequences of their actions too. I mean I like the general idea of all the different message ideas you've list out, but this one in particular would be helpful for learning things.

You mentioned a journal message for the Dyson Sphere, and I'm trying to remember from AIWC if it kept track of all the various taunts and such that the AI sent you, if not, it would be nice to have that message history stored in a journal as well for those occasions where you might get 4-5 in quick succession and need to review them after the fact.